Would You Give Up Smoking at Work to Get More Vacation Days?

A marketing firm in Japan has made headlines for a new policy in which it will give employees who don't smoke six extra days of vacation.

It's an incentive program designed to reward nonsmokers who don't take smoke breaks like their puffing coworkers do.

Whether this catches on in Japan remains to be seen through the smoke-filled haze, since nearly 20% of people over the age of 20 admit to smoking.

It is an interesting idea, though, isn't it? If you don't smoke, chances are you've at least mumbled your annoyance under your breath how Carl from accounting gets to go outside to take a few drags with no one questioning his leaving on company time while you stay chained to your desk because you've made the choice not to fill your lungs with nicotine. Don't you deserve to be compensated in some capacity for not smoking while you're on the clock?
All of which begs the question: if you do smoke, would you quit knowing you could get a day or two (or more) of vacation in exchange? It's your company's way of saying, "Hey, thanks for coming to work and not taking time out of your day to smoke so you can focus on the job we hired you to do." And what better way to thank you than by saying you don't need to come in a few extra days a year?